Device for feeding straw fuel to stoves.



WILLIAM BEDFORD MULocK, orl WInNIPEG, MANITOBAQCAN-ADA.

l To all whom t may concern.;-

Be it. known that I,. WILLIAM REDronD MULOGK, of the city of IVinnipeg,.in the Province of Manitoba, Canada, have invent'- ed certain new and useful Improvements. in .Devices for Feeding Straw Fuel to Stoves,

of which the following is the specification.

The invention relates'to inprovements in devicesfor feeding straw fue to stoves and the principal object of the'invention is to provide a handy household appliance which can be readily installed in a room and will "automatically and intermittently feed the "strawLfuel, placed therein, to the stove to which it is connected and thereby allow the farmer to utilize his own straw frheating purposes and to advantage:

, appliance. v

f present practice, wherein. straw is used as A further object of the invention -isv to construct an appliance. of this kind which can bel readily setl up vand whichl has -the partsl constructed so that. they will not readily get out of order and further, to

construct -the appliancein a durable-mam.

ner, but yet inexpensive and eiicient.

With the above and other objects in view; which will become more' apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter more particularly described and later pointed out 'in the appended claims, reference being4 had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 represents an end view of the(v device as it appears when installed. Fig.

2 is an enlargeddetailed end view of the device. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional v iew vof the device.` Fig. L is a longitudinal sectional view through the drawing like characters of reference -indicate corresponding parts 1n each In th re. t theouts'et I' wish to explainV that the a fuel, is to ,place the whole or uncut straw .in a'stove designed specially -for the purpose and burn it. .I havefound that this is more or less impractical in s o far as heat-` ing is concerned, for the reason that the straw, through becoming packed, smudges rather than burns with the result that the stove is inefficient as a heating proposition;

` the drum.

DvmE Fon FEELING STRAW FUEL To sTovEs.

. speeication f Letters Patent. Patented MaI- i7, 1916 `lipp1imiogn1ed-npri127,'1915. seriaino. 24,280.

Further, if sufficient draft is provided in i.

ajstove of this fkind, the straw vburns too quickly and needs replenishing too often. My invention relatesnot particularly 'to' a specially constructed stove, but to a device for feeding. c ut straw to the stove. automatically and intermittently. .l By having the'straw cut into short lengths and byproviding a-device to feed it, as' above statedr the straw burns properly for effective heating purposes and continual attention is not required. In the specification I have shown and described-a special device for this feeding.purpose, but it willbe understood that this can be readily modified without depart-A ing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring now to the drawing; 1 repre-` sents a stove of any suitable form suitably interlined with fire'bricks 2 and presenting a grate 3.

4 is the and 6 is the flue. To this stove I feed straw whichhas been previouslycut by a suitable machine into short lengths, say possibly a half an inch long. 1 l

The device for feeding the, straw tothe stove is now described; 7 represents a receptacle or container for the cut straw indicated by the reference letter 8. This container has a closed top .and has the bottom thereof hopper shaped as indicated at 9 and terminating in an outlet neck 10. The ends of the' hopperare supplied with handlesll and 11 so that thesame can-be carried about for refilling and resetting purposes.

top of th e 'stove,` 5 the ashi door l 12 is a cylindrical drum having one end peri manently closed as shown at 13 and the other: I j

endopen as shown at 14, and fitted with a' closure cap 1 5. This cap. can be fastened to the drum end-byremovable bolts 16 so that it can bereadily taken oli. The drunr4 is provided at the top and bottom sides with elongated inletv and discharge openings 17 and 1.8, 'these openings being boundedgre-v spectively, by outstanding surrounding flanges 19. and l20. The ange 19 is designed to receive and support the neck 17 of the straw container`7l so that the straw can feed from the container through the opening into rheaange 2o is designed, to feed into afeed pipe 21 leading to the top of the stove and opening .to the interior -of thestove through a" flanged collar 22 resting on thestove top. rlhe drum is Suspended in an elevated position,l adjacent'the stove, by:

brackets 23 and permanently fastened to an adjacent support such as a wall 25.

Within the drum 'I have rotatablymounted a -cylindrical distributer 26 having a plurality o f feed receiving, longitudinally disposed pockets 27 therein, the pockets being equallyspaced around the circumference of the distributer. End spindles 28 and 29 eX- tend from the distributor, and are mounted in suitable bearings vprovided in 'the-end 13 of the casing and in the cap The-outstanding end. of the spindle 28 is squared as .shownat 28.. o recevea hand tool Such as a wrench.

-30 is a spool mounted on the spindle 29 and faste-ned to the same by a removable split pin 3l. On the' spool 1 have Wound a cable, wire, rope o`r such like 32 having one end fastened to the spool andthe other end extending and provided with a weight 33V 34 is .a bralreshoe slidably fastened to the c ap 15-by'pins 35 and such shoe is positioned so that it can bc'tightened by means 4of an adjusting screw 36 against the adjoining end of the spool. In this way I am able to adjust the turning action of the spool and consequently the distributer, under the action of the weight, by tightening or loosening the shoe as thecase may be. l/Vithi vthe upper portion of the stove 4I suspend amore or less cone shaped vdeflect/or 1 37' having perforations therein 38. The apex of the cone-is centered below the en-l trance end of the pipe 21, so that the straw 4falling from the pipe strikes the defiector and *is accurately spread in thestove by`the deflector. It is obvious that as the straw rolls over the deflector yit willbe liberated 'through the perforations '38 and consequently distributed more or less evenly over the grate 3,

. AWhen the deviceis installed, it is set gpplying thevhand tool to the squared end and Iturning the distributer in a directlon suchjthat the cord is wound o n the spool l.and ythe weight accordingly. raised. The

distributer can then-'be locked in this .po-

sition by tightening up the screw\36. The container 7 can then be removed and carriedA out and filled withfcutstraw in an out- .buildingi It is Athen replaced on the dis-l trlbuter and the device is' ready for'use. y

T he rat'e at which the weight drops' can be directly controlled by adjusting the shoe frictionally against the spool end. With f this device, I propose keeping a fire in a -stove for over night without attention. This is simplyl a matter of designingthe container with proper straw capacity and then-adjusting the shoe so, that the weight will fall onceduring the-night. Obviously,

zontally disposed,

` Limbes as the distributer turns slowly, under the action of the weight, the straw is fed into the pockets `'and caught at the upper side and then turned around and released toA 21in a gradual stream and not in bulk, so

.to speak. This effects 'an even feed in the stove. It is of course, necessary toregulatev the distributer so that the second pocket will not empty itself 4until the straw, admitted to the stove by the preceding pocket,

stove `is accordingly effective as alheater.

From the construction of the device herein described, it will be seen that all the parts can be readily-dismounted for cleaning or repair purposes. The distributer pulls out Vismore or less well burnt. In this way the.

fire is not blanketedA in the stove and the -of the drum when the closure cap has been undone. If desired, both the closure cap and spool can be removed from the spindle d 29by withdrawing the split pin 31,

What I claim as my invention is stoves comprising, a suitably mounted, horielevated, cylindrical drum having vertically opposing, diametrically opposite, full length inlet and discharge openings therein, a -distributer rotatably mounted within the drum and havpockets 4located therein and passing full 'length thereof and designed, in the rotation ofthe distributer, to register successively with the inlet andA discharge openings aforesaid, gravity operated means for continuously and' slowly rotating the distributer, `a liemovable straw container mounted on the drum and designed to feed straw freely, by

gravity,'t o the distributer and a gravity feed pipe havingtheupper end enlargedand communicating withthe discharge opening and thelower end delivering to the stove.

2. A device for feeding str aw fuel to stoves' comprising, a suitablymounted, horihaving vertically opposing, diametrically opposite, full -.length-'inlet and discharge openings therein, a distributer rotatably mounted withinthe drum and having diametrically opposing pairsof substantially 1. A device for feeding straw fuel .to

ing substantially U-shaped straw receiving zontally disposed, elevated cylindrical drum U-shaped. straw receiving pockets located therein and passing full length thereofand designed, in the rotation of the distributer,

to registersuccessively with the inlet and dischargel openings aforesaid, gravity operated meane for continuously and slowly leo- `drinn and the lower end deliver-ing to the.l L

tting' the distributer, a flat topped, hopper stove.

. 10 shaped bottomed stra-W container removably Signed at Winnipeg', this A 15th `day of mounted on the drum and designed to feed-1'l Apri1',`19l5.

etre-W eenteined therein freely, by gravity,V WILLIAM REDFORD'MU'LooIQ- to the distributer and a gravity feed pipe In the presence ofs having thenpper end enlarged und comrnu- GERALD S. ROXBURGH., f

nicating with the dischargeopening of the -S.,SI1 LVERT'. 

